There are many different types of Assistive Technologies for children and adults with TBI and depending upon the severity of their injury one of the simplest and low cost tools could be a planner/notebook for record keeping. If a child is older, lets say middle school age and incurs an injury and if found suffering from memory capabilities, problem solving, or even routine schedules he/she can keep a record of activities such as school schedules, maps or layout of the hallways, teachers names, and more in his/her notebook for a reference tool. Again, this a the simplest of tools and more than likely not going to provide all that a student with diagnosed TBI disability is going to need to be successful in school however I am sure that they don’t want to stand out anymore than what they already feel inside so adding a lot of fancy or large assistive tools to point them out even more could cause more stress than peace. I know from personal experience with my husband who has endured two TBI in the past year and how it has changed his life and ours forever. His biggest aid is post-it notes to assist in jogging his memory on computer processes and procedures, client’s names and brief descriptions, to do lists, and so much more. He finds that is he sees his hand writing and a note that it helps him process the note and information so much better than if it were typed out in a manual format plus it gives him the feeling like everyone else he works with because who doesn’t use post it notes in this day and age. The feeling on being included and like everyone else is so important to him because he knows that he is not the same person as he was before the injuries. Processing time, gathering thoughts, thinking in abstract terms are actions that flowed liked water before and now take special concentration and purposeful actions on his part and sometimes even that he is not able to recall or complete the action intended.
The second tool that seems to be consistent with a lot of disabilities is the iPad or iPhone which now has so many apps to assist with Cognition deficits, speech impairments, reasoning, emotional disconnections that can be connected to traumatic brain injury. Some of the apps that I came across are Word Warp, IMazing, Lumosity, Make Change, Index Card, Reminder Apps and more that really can be of service to kids of all ages. What is so fantastic about the iPad is the ability to refine and use the fine motor skills if that has been damaged in a TBI injury which sometimes occurs and provides the tactile ability. If the ability to use your fine motor skills or use of limbs is taken but speech is still intact there are many apps and other devices that uses your voice to control to provide mobility and communication means. I have used my iPad in working with children with reading disabilities/deficiencies and have watched their worlds light up with words coming alive through the interaction of apps. There are so many ways to stimulate brain activity and assist with memory, speed, problem solving, abstract thinking and more and what is so fantastic about most of these apps; they are engaging and fun. Again, if we are using tools that hopefully do not further distinguish the child/student from being different the likelihood of healing and progress are greater.
So what does the future look like for children/adults with TBI? According to ProjectIDEAL, “Students with TBI are too often inappropriately classified as having learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, or mental retardation.” What this tells me is that we as future educators need to be more educated not only on our academia standards but on the possibilities of our incoming populations. We as future educators want to avoid misdiagnosis obviously which means if we see signs we must investigate thoroughly with our administrators and families involved so we can utilize the best possible Assistive tools for them. Brain mapping, brain studies and medical technology already can tell us so much about what part of the brain is affected in a TBI and I can only foresee that becoming more and more in-depth however with the brain I also know that some are similar but never the same so that means all recoveries and time frames will be different. This article http://www.brainline.org/content/2011/02/pediatric-traumatic-brain-injury_pageall.html has so much helpful information giving real life scenarios and links to helping kids with TBI. I couldn't possibly list all the amazing information so please look at this site if you intend on working in this field or know of anyone suffering from TBI; its real and it really gets misdiagnosed or missed altogether.
References
CDC. (2010). Traumatic
brain injury in the http://www.brainline.org/content/2011/02/pediatric-traumatic-brain-injury_pageall.html
Apple App Store in looking up current cognitive and brain challenging application.
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